My Protector
by Maceus
Summary: Lord Death finds out about Soul's feelings for Maka and splits them up. Takes place while their going to the academy, it's kinda an off story, doens't really follow the original Soul Eater storyline. REVIEW PLEASE!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater**

**Author's Note: I'm not really that far into the series, so sorry if some of my facts are wrong. Just read it for what it is ****J It's also really difficult to transfer anime (especially the characters in Soul Eater) into book form, or it is for me anyway, so I hope that I captured the characters well enough. Now, on with the story!**

Maka and Soul stood in front of the assignment board, reading all the different missions that they could go on.

"This one seems interesting," said Soul, pointing at one of the posts at the top.

"No," Maka said, frowning. "Not trying to boast, but vampires are way too easy for us."

"True," Soul agreed, squinting harder at the posts. "There's a kishin not too far from here that seems to be a bit above our level, so we'd probably have to partner with another team. How about Subaki and Black Star?"

"The star of the show, at your service!" someone said loudly behind them.

"Hey, Black Star," said Soul, shaking his best friend's hand.

"What mission are you guys looking at?" asked Subaki, her black hair pulled up in a high pony tail as usual.

Maka turned around to face Subaki. "We're way behind on our quotas. We found one, but he's just barely out of our league. We'd have to pair up with someone. You guys interested?"

"One little kishin isn't gonna get the best of Black Star! Yahoo!" Black Star exclaimed, punching his fist in the air.

"Hold on, Black Star," said Soul, his hands in his pockets. "We need to take this kishin seriously. He's more skilled than we are. If we weren't going together there'd be no chance that we would win."

Black Star put his hands on his hips. "You doubt my skills, Soul. I'm the star of this school. No one can stop Black Star!"

"But Maka and Soul have collected triple the amount of kishin souls that we have," Subaki said quietly, her head low.

Black Star just stood there.

"Anyway," said Maka, "we should go tomorrow. It's a Saturday and we wouldn't be missing any classes."

They all nodded and set off for their classes as the bell rang.

* * *

><p>The next day Soul, Black Star, Maka, and Subaki all met each other in a dark and dank alleyway. The kishin that they were hunting was supposed to be around here somewhere. Their bodies were tensed with familiar adrenaline. For once, Black Star was being quiet.<p>

When they were all together, Maka silently nodded, and they began to walk down the alleyway, their footsteps echoing off the walls.

"Where could it be?" Maka thought to herself.

"Hey, Maka, why don't you try to find this kishin by locating its soul wavelength?" Soul asked.

"Right," said Maka, and she closed her eyes in concentration. The others stood around her in silence as she searched for the kishin's soul wavelength. She suddenly opened her eyes.

"There!" she exclaimed, pointing in front of her.

Sure enough, there he was, a silhouette with a dark cloak that swayed around him in the breeze. Everyone's bodies tensed again, ready to act on a moment's notice.

There was a long silence where no one moved, the wind rushing past and blowing through there hair.

"You children seem lost." the figure said. He had a dark voice that sent chills down the kids' spines.

"Not hardly," said Maka as Soul and Subaki transformed into their weapon forms.

The silhouette laughed. "Have you come to collect my soul? How cute. I see that the Grim Reaper has sent children to do a death scythe's job."

Maka grit her teeth, her grip on Soul tightening. "Shut up and fight."

The shadow bowed low. "As you wish."

There was a strong breeze, and the shadow disappeared along with it.

Maka's eyes widened. "Where'd he go?"

"Maka, look out!" Soul shouted, his voice muffled in his weapon form.

Maka whirled around, taking a wild slash at the space behind her, but once again the kishin dissolved into the air, leaving a frantic Maka looking wildly around her.

"We might have bitten off more than we can chew," Maka muttered to herself as Black Star took his position at Maka's back.

They stood there for what seemed like hours, their breath appearing like phantoms in front of them. Soul's face on his blade showed that he was tense as well, his sharp teeth bared.

Then, suddenly, the kishin appeared in front of them.

"You're a coward!" Maka yelled at him, her temper rising.

"Yeah!" said Black Star. "You probably think that you're bigger than me because you can evaporate, but Subaki will eat your soul soon, so we'll see who's bigger in the end."

The shadow chuckled. "We shall see."

Then he attacked. He drew a sword from within the depths of his cloak and took a swing at Maka, who deflected the blow easily. He swung again and Maka ducked, swinging Soul at his legs. The kishin evaporated again, this time appearing with a jab at Black Star. He held Subaki in front of him, her chain and the sword clanking together. Black Star's arms shook unger the pressure of the kishin's sword.

"Maka! Attack him from behind, before he can evaporate again!" said Soul.

Maka nodded. "Right!"

Maka charged at the kishin with a mighty roar, and was about to swing at him again, but he jumped up high, and Maka hat to stop herself before she cut Black Star. Maka looked around herself, but she couldn't find the kishin.

She heard a yell of pain behind her and she turned on her heels to find that the kishin had got to Black Star while Maka was turned around, a deep gash in his shoulder, Subaki's weapon form hanging limp in his hands.

"Black Star!" yelled Maka, running over to help him, but the kishin, yet again, evaporated.

Then, suddenly, her vision left her as she felt something hard hit the back of her head.

"Maka!" yelled Soul.

She hit the ground, Soul clattering away from her. Soul transformed and ran to Kaka, crouching low over her body in a protective stance.

The kishin appeared before them, his sword glinting red with Black Star's blood. He stepped forward, raising his sword to deal the final blow. "I would step aside if I were you, young weapon."

"No!" yelled Soul, his teeth bared at the kishin. "I wont let you touch my meister!"

To Soul's surprise, the kishin dropped his sword. With his left hand, he pulled down his hood, revealing an evil face. It was scarred at misshapen, black eyes glinting from underneath thick eyebrows. His thin lips twisted into a smile, his yellow teeth glowing dimly in the moonlight.

"Ah," he whispered, his smile growing larger and even more twisted. "I understand now. I can see it in your eyes. Your willingness to give your own life to protect hers goes beyond your duties as her weapon, doesn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Soul, a murderous glint in his red eyes.

"You know full well what I'm talking about, young scythe." the kishin said. "Let me give you this advice: it will one day ruin you."

Soul's arm transformed into a blade, but he didn't move from his stance over Maka.

The kishin stepped forward again, raising his sword. Then, Black Star irrupted from behind them, catching the kishin off guard and cutting him in half with Subaki's enchanted sword mode.

Subaki transformed back into her human form and ate the kishin's soul, then turning to look at Soul and Maka, concern painted on her face.

Soul picked up Maka from under her arms and legs, not taking his eyes off her face.

"Hey, Soul," Black Star said from behind him, flinching as he pressed his hand over his gash to keep it from bleeding. "What was that kishin going on about?"

Still not taking his eyes off of Maka's face, he muttered, "No idea," and began to walk in the general direction of the DWMA.

**So, this chapter was pretty much just action, but trust me, there's a lot of romance coming! But it's not just like, **_**BAM! **_**instant romance, it's like an actual story, it takes a while, so bear with me and keep reading! I'll post the next chapter once i've got a few reviews!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater**

**Whoa. Those reviews came in quick! Good thing that I had this chapter almost ready! Thanks for the reviews! Keep sending in more! Again, I'm not really that far into the series, and I did a lot of assuming in this chapter, so sorry if I got my facts wrong! Please don't send any reviews with spoilers in them (I'm a big sissy when it comes to spoilers) **

Soul never left the school's hospital the next week, and when he wasn't allowed to be at Maka's side he was sitting in the hallway, staring at the door, waiting fro when he nurse would let him back in and he sat back down at Maka's side, never taking his eyes off of her, awaiting the moment that she would open her emerald eyes and smile at him again.

As was expected, whispered rumors spread throughout the DWMA like wildfire. And, as was also expected, the story of what happened during Maka, Soul, Tsubaki, and Black Star's mission was drastically over exaggerated. But, as was _not_ expected, these exaggerated stories where not made so by Black Star. He had kept his mouth shut out of respect for his friends, but did slightly exaggerate the efforts made by himself. The latest version of the story recalls that Maka was brutally stabbed in the side with a dull blade, and before the kishin could deal the final blow, Soul thrust himself in front of Maka and got a deep gash on his chest (this conclusion was drawn because he spent all his time in the hospital since they got back from their mission). Then the kishin was finally finished off by Black Star and Tsubaki, who had to stab the kishin 18 times in the chest before he finally bled to death.

Maka didn't wake up for three days, yet Soul never left Maka's side.

"She's got a strong soul," the nurse would say. "She'll be fine."

Soul would just smile weakly at her and continue to gaze at Maka's face.

Finally, on the fourth day her eyes fluttered open.

"Nice for you to join us," said Soul, chuckling slightly, relief plastered on his face.

Maka smiled back weakly. "Did we get his soul?"

Soul nodded. "Yeah. Tsubaki ate it."

"That's good," said Maka. "How's Black Star?"

"He's in a sling but he's still the Black Star that we know and love."

Maka seemed glad to hear about this. Ever since Soul had gotten infected with Ragnarok's black blood, she had paranoid about cuts.

"How long was I out?" Maka asked, sitting up slowly.

"Three days."

Maka looked distressed. "I missed three days of classes? What did we learn? Did we get a lot of homework? Did he say when our test was?"

Soul couldn't help but smile. Maka was passed out for three days and the main thing that she was concerned about was school.

"I wouldn't know," said Soul. "I didn't leave here the whole time you were out."

"Soul, I-"

"Maka, I wouldn't have been able to focus in class anyway." Soul said before Maka could protest.

"You know the feeling."

Scenes of Crona running at them and Soul protecting her flashed in her mind, and also the scar that stretched across Soul's chest just to remind her of the event. "Yeah." said Maka, smiling feebly.

* * *

><p>When Maka recovered, Lord Death requested to see them. They went up to the Death Room, where Dr. Stein stood waiting for them.<p>

"Lord Death had requested to see Soul alone first." he said, his glasses obscuring all emotion from his eyes.

Soul lifted one eyebrow. "Why would Lord Death want to see me alone?"

"Personal reasons," Dr. Stein answered dully.

Shrugging, Soul walked under the guillotines and into the Death Room.

Lord Death was standing in the middle of the room. Soul walked onto the platform and plunged his hands into his pockets. There was a long silence as Lord Death seemed to work out the words that he wanted to say.

"How are you, Soul Eater?" he said lamely.

"Uh, fine, I guess. Maka's better, so…" _Well, this is extremely awkward,_ Soul thought to himself.

"Ah, young Maka." said Lord Death. "Just what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Maka? Why?"

"I see that you and Maka have grown very close," he said.

"Well, yeah, she's my meister. We're supposed to be close. I mean, we live together."

"True," said Lord Death. "But I can see that the attachment has grown very large."

Soul looked uncomfortable. "Where are you going with this?"

"Soul, tell me about your feelings about Maka."

Soul's eyes grew shaded. Had he been that obvious? He thought that any partner, weapon or meister, would wait around the hospital if their partner was injured. Maybe he was wrong. But he wouldn't have been able to be away from Maka when she was in that condition. But why was Lord Death so concerned about it?

"Soul?"

Soul took a deep breath. "You know the answer to that." He looked up at Lord Death. "But what does that have to do with anything? I know that she doesn't feel that way about me, so I don't see why its such a big deal." it pained him to say this, to speak the truth that he had been denying for some time now, but he knew that it was the truth.

If it were possible, Lord Death looked sympathetic. "I believe that you know of one other weapon and meister that became a couple?"

"Yeah," said Soul. "Maka's parents. But Maka's mom managed to turn Maka's dad into a death scythe, right?"

"True, but with a lot of difficulty. You see, after they became a couple, their soul wavelengths became very imbalanced. It was almost impossible for them to match wavelengths while Maka's father was in weapon form. You see where I'm going with this?"

It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice and boiling water at the same time on Soul. He stared into Lord Death's empty eyes and couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Are you saying that I can't be Maka's weapon anymore?" he said in disbelief.

"I am sorry, Soul Eater." said the grim reaper. "It's just not possible for you two to match soul wavelengths anymore. If you ever want to become a death scythe, you need a new partner."

Soul shook his head. "There's got to be something I can do."

"I'm sorry."

Soul felt his whole world falling apart a bit at a time. With every word that Lord Death spoke, he tore away another piece of him. Soon there would be nothing left.

"What do I tell Maka?" Soul asked, his voice cracking. _Pull it together!_ he thought to himself. _This isn't cool!_

But did what was cool and what wasn't really matter anymore? Soul wasn't sure. All that he knew was that Lord Death had just ripped away the only thing that he really cared about as if he were picking a flower from the ground.

"Just tell her what she needs to know, nothing more." the grim reaper replied.

All that Soul could do was nod as he turned around and walked back out under the guillotines, half wishing that one of the ropes would snap and cause one of the blades to drop and put him out of his misery.

* * *

><p>"What did he want?" Maka asked Soul as he came out of the Death Room.<p>

Soul couldn't look at Maka. He couldn't speak. It was the most that he could do just to shrug and keep his eyes on the ground.

"Soul, what's wrong?" asked Maka, concerned.

Soul had to take in deep breaths. Maka would never fight with him again. He'd never wake up to see her smiling face offering him breakfast again. And, he was fully convinced, he'd never be happy again.

"Ah, here they are," said Dr. Stein.

Two kids came up the hallway, a boy and a girl. The girl had blonde hair and blue eyes and glasses, the boy black hair and green eyes and a black earring in his right ear.

"All of you into the Death Room," instructed Dr. Stein, gesturing to the pathway of guillotines. The young weapons and meisters obeyed, meeting Lord Death on the other side. When they had all gathered around the grim reaper, everyone still looked really confused except for Soul, who was staring dejectedly anywhere but at Maka.

"You are probably all wondering why you are here." said Lord Death. "You are here to be reassigned to your new partners."

"Wait, new partners? Lord Death, you must have the wrong people-"

Lord Death held up his hand, silencing her. "I am quite sure that I have the right weapons and meisters."

Maka looked at Soul, trying to read his face, but Soul still refused to look at Maka.

"Kaylee, meet Soul." he said, gesturing from the blond girl to Soul. "Kaylee is your new meister, Soul Eater."

"Lord Death-" Maka started again, but he again silenced her.

"Maka, this is Tristan. Tristan is a sword, you should be able to adapt well."

"I'm Soul's meister." Maka said firmly, looking right into Lord Death's eyes.

Soul didn't know how much more of this he could take. "Just drop it, Maka."

Maka stared at Soul in disbelief. How could he give up just like that? This was very unlike Soul. Maybe this was what Lord Death was talking to Soul about. But why had he told Soul in advance and not her? Was there something that Maka didn't know about?

Then a sharp realization hit her that actually made her gasp and her hand to rise shakily to her mouth. Had Soul actually _requested _to have a new meister? How could he do that? Sure, they had been fighting recently, but she didn't think that it had been _that _bad…

Maka couldn't take it anymore. Maka ran out of the Death Room, down the hall, through the school, and into the streets of Death City. She didn't know where she was going, but she was running, and it felt good.

**I know, kind of sad, huh? But there's some good stuff coming up, like I said, this is a complete story, so please keep reading. Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Hey guys, guess what? I don't own Soul Eater! :)**

Maka and Soul were in their dorm. A large suitcase was lying in front of Soul, clothes, books, and all sorts of mismatched things lied around him. He had decided that he would be the one to move out. He wouldn't be able to keep living in this dorm when Maka wasn't there. It would just be a sharp reminder every day of how he would never fight with Maka again…

Maka was on the couch, hugging a pillow and staring out the window. She had racked her brains all night to find something that would have made Soul so mad as to request a new partner, but she couldn't find anything. Of course, there was their normal bickering, but that had never made him this mad before, unless their last argument had been his last straw…

"Why do you think he split us up?" Maka asked.

"No idea,' Soul lied, not pausing his packing.

Soul had been acting very strange ever since they had gotten back from the Death Room. He had refused to look at Maka, and answered her with short, clipped replies.

_Maybe he really did want us to be split up._ Maka thought miserably, holding the pillow more tightly to her body.

"Hey, Maka," said Soul. Maka flipped her head around hopefully, but Soul wasn't looking at her. His back was to her, his head hung low. "We can still be friends after this, right?'

This question confused Maka. "What do you mean?"

"I mean there's no rule saying that we can't still be friends right? Just because Lord Death reassigned us doesn't mean that we can't talk anymore."

"So you didn't ask to be reassigned?"

Soul turned around and looked at Maka for the first time all day. "Of course not, Maka. I'd never ask to be reassigned from you."

His eyes were unbearable for Maka to look at. They looked horrible, portraying an emotion that Maka had never seen before in his eyes: devastation. It almost made Maka want to shake her head. Soul had always been the strong one, being brave when Maka couldn't find a sliver of hope to cling to. What had happened to her Soul?

"I'm sorry, Soul," said Maka quietly.

Soul caught his breath and turned back around, pretending to focus on packing. The way that she had just said his name… it had torn away the last part of his world. There was now nothing left inside him.

Nothing at all.

* * *

><p><strong>Maka's P.O.V.<strong>

The dorm was so empty without him in it. An eerie echo of the door slamming behind Soul rang in my ears. It felt like something was missing, and no matter how long I searched for it I would never find it again.

Tristan would be here in an hour. He'd take over Soul's room and sleep in Soul's bed and use Soul's bathroom. Something in me wanted to scoop up every area that used to belong to Soul and never let go of it, turning selfishly against the world.

I shook my head, my ponytails hitting my forehead. I had to move on and do what I could with what I had. It's what Soul would do. "Take what you got and run with it," is what he would say.

Soul…

I rubbed my eyes, and my hand came away wet. _Oh, come _on _Maka!_ a voice shouted in my head.

I walked into my room and slammed the door behind me. I heard something crash to the ground. It was a picture of Soul and me when we had first been assigned to each other, the frame was broken. I picked up the fragments and threw them in the trash.

Then I felt bad, so I pulled the picture out of the shattered frame and stared at it. I looked eager and excited, ready to follow in my mom's footsteps, and Soul looked cocky and smug with his arm around my shoulders.

I knew what to do. I grabbed a cardboard box and went around my room, picking up things that would remind me of Soul. There were multiple pictures that I removed from their frames. I took the essays that I had written on soul resonance with Soul and a pair of gloves that Soul had given me for Christmas and many other things and I put them all into the box. I shut the box and shoved it under my bed.

"Bye, Soul," I whispered, a lone tear running down my cheek.

The doorbell rang an hour later. I opened it to find Tristan's tall frame filling up my doorway, a large suitcase behind him. His eyes looked at my face, then at my eyes. I knew that they looked red from my crying, but I greeted him with a smile.

"Welcome to your new home!" I said. It sounded really fake and strained.

Tristan nodded and walked through the doorway when I made room for him to enter. I showed him where S-_his _room was and the bathroom. I tried to sound cheery, but Tristan saw right through my mask. He leaned up against the wall and studied me hard.

"You really cared about him, didn't you?" he asked.

I gulped. "Yeah. We were partners for a long time."

"Must've been one hell of a partner," he said. When I looked at him confusedly, he just chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. "No matter. You've got me now, the best sword at the DWMA. Lord Death must've seen what a great weapon I was when he sent me my acceptance letter three days ago." he flipped his dark hair out of his face.

I just laughed weakly. Some weapon, huh? I could tell from the start that he was going to give me problems.

"Well, you have a lot of catching up to do, Tristan." I said. I hadn't meant to bring up schoolwork within the first few minutes that Tristan got here, but it was all I could think to say after his cocky words.

He laughed. "School work is so easy," he said, "it's the field work that counts, and I'm a straight A student in that area."

"Yeah? How many fights have you been in?" I said. I felt my temperature rising. How could anyone be so arrogant before they even started lessons? Soul was ten times the weapon that he would ever be…

"My brother used to be my miester. We used to get in a lot of disagreements around the streets, the poor guys never saw what was coming." Tristan's eyes grew misted with memories.

"Well you know that at the Academy that if you get in a fight you have to have a teacher supervise you, right? And there's no way that I'm going to wield you in some useless fight."

Tristan snorted. "Like I need _you_ to wield me in a fight to win."

My teeth clenched down hard. My breathing began to speed up. How would I _ever_ be able to soul resonate with this guy when he was so full of arrogance? Before I could say anything that would ensure the fact that we would ever be able to match soul wavelengths, I said "Have a good night," and walked out of S-his room and shut the door behind me.

* * *

><p><strong>Soul's POV<strong>

It was as if someone had taken a huge cookie cutter and punched out a hole in the middle of my chest. I had expected for the hole to just feel empty, but the pain of the newly cut wound throbbed throughout my entire body, and only grew more painful with every without-purpose beating of my heart. I had been so preoccupied with the pain that I had lapped the dorm building twice before I had even looked at my new room number: 76, 53 rooms away from home.

Whoa. That was way too sappy for me. Uncool.

But did it really matter what was cool and what wasn't anymore? I wasn't sure. I had pretty much just lost my whole reason for being at the D.W.M.A. Even if this Kaylee managed to turn me into a Death Scythe, would I ever be truly fulfilled again? I had never been wielded in the hands of another miester before (except for that disastrous time when Black Star tried to wield me against Kid). Would it ever be the same? Was it this hard for Maka's dad when he was reassigned?

My teeth clenched. Maka's father. His example was the whole reason I had been split up from Maka.

As you can see, the traumatic experience had made me extremely poetic.

When I finally got to 76, I raised my fist to knock, but the door had already swung open.

Inside was Kaylee, her thin blond hair lank around her pinched face. Her glasses magnified her eyes, which were looking me up and down. She shrugged as if to say I was tolerable and let me through.

The room was identical to me and Maka's-our old room. But it didn't smell or feel the same. Everything was unnaturally tidy, and it smelled slightly like a hospital, where as in my old room it was warm and inciting, just the right amount of messiness and it smelled like Maka's body spray.

"Your room is there," Kaylee said, pointing a fully extended arm at the door. I strode over to the room and opened the door, lifting my suitcase onto the bed. I sat next to it. Kaylee didn't move from the doorway, but continued to stare at me through her glasses.

"Are you new here?" I asked, trying to break the extremely uncomfortable silence.

"No," she said briskly. "My other partner quit on me."

_I wonder why?_ I thought to myself.

"Anyway," she said, pushing her glasses back up her nose. "We have school tomorrow, and I heard that you skipped classes to go and wait for that Maka girl, so you have a lot of catching up to do…"

That was my last straw. How _dare _she refer to Maka like that? My blood burned in my veins, but Kaylee apparently didn't notice my fury, because she continued to talk.

"You'll need to go to bed soon so that you can be ready in the morning and be alert enough to catch up on all your late work, and-"

She was cut off by me slamming the door in her face. I was breathing heavily, and my teeth were bared for some reason. I guess that if I was a girl that now would be the time for me to throw myself on to the bed and cry, but, no, I began to smash everything in sight.

Let's just say that the room was not in its original order by the time I was done with it.

* * *

><p>I woke up the next morning from a nightmare. I was in a dark room, or maybe I was blind, I didn't know. But I could hear screams all around me, Maka's screams. I clambered all over the place, but right when I thought that I had gotten to the place where Maka was, I heard a louder and more desperate scream behind me.<p>

Now I was sitting up in bed in my wrecked room. I took a deep breath and fell out of bed, walking out into the living room.

"Maka?" I called out.

"I'll forget about last night and excuse it as a reaction from the traumatic experience of being reassigned." a brisk voice replied.

I ran my fingers through my hair. So it hadn't been a dream? I really wasn't Maka's weapon anymore?

The kitchen smelled funny. It didn't smell of the eggs and bacon that Maka usually made in the morning, but of an unnatural mixture of vegetables and other unpleasant aromas.

"Drink up," said Kaylee, said Jessica, handing me a cold cup.

I dared to look at its contents. It was a sickly brown-green. And I could see chunks of something in it.

One thing was sure: today was not going to be cool.

I shrugged. "Bottoms up," I said, holding to cup up to Kaylee. Then I tipped back my head and dumped the contents of the cup into my mouth. I swallowed quickly then gagged viciously.

"What the hell was that?" I gasped.

Kaylee stuck her nose up in the air. "It may appear to hold the visage of something superfluously displeasing, but it is my won recipe and it is a heterogeneous mixture of components that optimizes your performance and ability to concentrate thoroughly and ascertain the adequate information so that we may learn."

"Could you translate that to English for me?" I asked, holding the counter support against uncontrollable gagging.

Kaylee made a noise that reminded me vividly of a guinea pig and left the room, her heels clicking of the tile floor on the hallway.

**Just kinda giving you a feel on the new characters Kaylee and Tristan. I was writing the last bit from Soul's POV in class today and I started to feel really sad and my friends actually noticed and they were like, "Lunden, what's wrong?" and I just said, "Poor Soul!" and they just looked at me all confused 'cause none of them have watched Soul Eater :~) I'll update once I get some reviews!**


	4. Chapter 4

**DIslclaimer: I think that you've caught on that I don't own Sole Eater. I mean Soul Eater. Him too :)**

It was so strange for class to continue the next day. It proved that even though Lord Death did the cruelest thing that he ever had, the world continued to carry on, oblivious to tragedy.

Soul was the last person to walk into class that day, and looked up to where he usually sat with Maka, and saw that Maka was there, but Tristan had taken his place at Maka's side, an earphone sticking out of one of his ears, looking around as if he owned the place. Soul scowled and found Kaylee, who was sitting front and center in the classroom. Soul walked moodily over to her and slouched down into the seat.

"Your late," said Kaylee through the corner of her mouth.

"Actually," said Soul as the bell rang. "I'm right on time."

"To be on time is to be early; to be on time is to be late."

Soul just sighed and looked dejectedly over to his left where a miester and his weapon were chatting adamantly away.

"Good morning class," said Dr. Stein. "Today we will be continuing our study on dueling. May partners Maka and Tristan and Kaylee and Soul please come down."

Maka didn't look as eager as she normally did when asked to try something, she looked weary and tired. Soul looked, well, pouty, there was no other word for it. Tristan, as always, looked arrogant and cocky, Kaylee's pinched face looked stern and concentrating.

"I understand that you are both new partners," said Dr. Stein. Neither of the couples replied. "So I thought that you would be the best example for this lesson. Weapons, transform, miesters, face each other."

The weapons transformed, landing in their miesters hands. It made Maka feel sick to see Soul in another miester's hands, and it felt wrong to have another weapon in her hands. It was almost nauseating for Soul to be held in another miester's hands, and it made his blood burn to see Maka hold another weapon. And he knew what was coming next. He would be wielded against his own miester.

_No,_ thought Soul to himself. _She's not your miester anymore._

"Now, I want you to fight each other until there is one victor. I want the rest of you to take notes on this fight. Now, begin."

Kaylee crouched low, her grip tightening on Soul. Maka held Tristan's hilt with both hands. She had never fought with a sword before. This was going to be interesting.

Maka took a wild jab at Kaylee, Kaylee deflected the attack easily. Kaylee spun Soul around her head and brought Soul down on Maka. Maka tried to block the blow but when Soul made contact with Tristan the sword was knocked from her grasp. As Maka dived down to retrieve her blade, Kaylee brought Soul back down onto Maka.

"No!"

Soul's metal bent backwards so that his blade didn't come down onto Maka's back. He looked very funny to be bent unnaturally backwards at a ninety degree angle. Soul's reflection on his blade was panting and he looked like he was in pain.

Dr. Stein cracked a smile. "That is good. You may transform."

Tristan and Soul morphed back into themselves. Soul's head was down, his hands in his pockets. The classroom was silent. Even Black Star didn't even dare to breathe.

Kaylee huffed. "I wasn't _actually _going to cut her!"

Soul just kept his head down.

"I'm sorry for dropping you," Maka mumbled to Tristan, but he wasn't paying attention.

"Did you see that block? I didn't buckle or anything! I'm the strongest sword here! I didn't even feel it! I must be so advanced that a regular scythe couldn't even touch me!"

"Looks like Tristan's giving Black Star a run for his money," said Maka through clenched teeth.

The bell rang and class was dismissed, Soul almost running out of the room, not wanting to be held back by Dr. Stein or have to talk to Maka. It was too embarrassing. Why had he actually thought that Kaylee would cut Maka? Of course she wouldn't! But his arrogance had blinded him, he had been foolish and publicly displayed his problem: he was in love with Maka Alburn, and nothing, not even reassignment, could change that.

**I know, I know, it's short, but I thought that this chapter was really significant. Review please!**

**P.S. I'm currently suffering from writer's block, so sorry if I don't post for a while :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Soul Eater is not mine. Me, Soul Eater, no. Me no Soul Eater!**

**Author's Note: Sorry I haven't posted for a while! I'm currently suffering from writer's block... R&R!**

"So, tell me, Stein, are Maka and Soul's new partners are coming along well?"

They were in the Death Room. Lord Death was standing in front on Stein, who had his usual cigarette lit in his mouth. His glasses obscuring his eyes, he breathed deeply from his cigarette thoughtfully.

"No. Soul has not reacted well to his reassigned partner. He has grown more withdrawn than ever before. Even Black Star cannot get him out of his slump.

"I have a theory. I had thought that I had seen it before, but it was not has obvious as this. Soul's feelings for Maka have grown to a irreversible size, and to be suddenly ripped away from the sanctuary that he had wrapped himself within around the young Maka proved to be disastrous."

Dr. Stein moved his head up slightly so that the glare removed itself from his glasses and his eyes were revealed. "Did you know that the attachment had grown to this size when you reassigned them?"

Lord Death was silent for a moment. "I must say that I did know of the attachment, but I did not know of the size that you say that it has grown to."

Dr. Stein let out a small noise. "You need only to look at his soul to see his feelings tattooed across it in big, bold letters. I'm actually surprised that Maka didn't notice it before, it's so prominent in his soul, even weapons could notice something was going on."

Lord Death sighed. "How bad is it?"

"Soul is extremely distraught. So much so that I fear for his health. I never thought it possible for someone to feel so much, so deeply. To have feelings so deep for someone that you would do absolutely anything for someone; sacrifice anything, die a thousand deaths, even never tell them how they feel to save them the distress of dealing with such feelings."

A long silence filled the room where Lord Death stared at Dr. Stein and vice versa. Then Lord Death sighed.

"What should we do?"

"Wait it out," said Stein. "Although its highly unlikely, Soul may pull himself out of this. I understand your reason for reassigning them: it's so hard for couples to resonate souls, and Maka and Soul had a hard time matching soul wavelengths to begin with. So if we put them back together and it didn't work, could Soul survive another break up? Then again, it might be worth the risk."

Then, with a shrug, Stein exited the Death Room.

**Oooooooh, cliffhanger! Review please!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Say it with me: Maceus-does-not-own-Soul-Eater!**

Soul stared at the mission board, standing exactly where he and Maka had been just one week earlier. That week had seemed like an eternity in hell itself. He had thought at multiple occasions of suicide, every time ridding himself of such thoughts with a violent shake of his head. He was looking for something. For _someone_, to be specific.

Then he saw it. Maka's name next to Tristan's on a purple ribbon over one of the missions. He sighed. Maka had really let herself fall back. They were going to find a vampire, the very thing that she had said just a week ago was way below their skill level. Tristan had must've demolished Maka's dream of creating a Death Scythe. She had worked do hard to get Soul up to the level that he was at, and now she had to start all over. It wasn't fair to Maka.

"Hey, Soul," said a voice behind him.

Soul jumped out of his skin. It had been so long since he had heard that voice.

He turned his head to see Maka with her hands behind her back, looking straight forward. She had on her fighting clothes. Soul noticed that she wasn't wearing the gloves that he had gotten her for Christmas.

"Hey, Maka."

Maka sighed. "I see that you've found who we're fighting today?"

Soul nodded.

"The only way that I got Tristan to agree to go is because I said that only the best swords could defeat vampires. He was under the illusion that he didn't need any training."

Maka suddenly snapped out of her gloom, pasting on a fake smile. "So, how are things going with Kaylee?"

Soul gave a weak laugh. "We're not exactly on speaking terms yet."

"That bad, huh?"

Soul nodded, his face grim.

"I miss you, Soul," said Maka quietly.

Soul looked up at Maka. Her eyes were on the ground, her hands behind her back. The lighting in the hallway showed that Maka had deep lines under her eyes. She was also more pale than normal, and Soul was convinced that he saw something small and clear fall from Maka's eyes.

_Oh, God, Maka,_ thought Soul, his heart aching. _What has the world done to you?_

**Maka's POV**

Tristan was in a sheath at my side. I was walking down the city streets of Death City. The vampire was around here somewhere. I remembered when Soul and I fought a vampire for the first time. It was one of our first missions. We had to be somewhere around eleven at the time. I was small and even slower than I was now. I remember that I fought a majority of the fight with my eyes closed, and Soul got a lot of bruises as a result of my clumsiness.

I gave a weak laugh at the memory. I remember what Soul said after the fight…

_Soul had just eaten the vampire's soul. I was on the floor, staring with wide eyes at the place where the vampire's soul had been moments before. I couldn't believe it. I had defeated the vampire all by myself._

"_Hey, Maka," said Soul, standing above me. He was smiling widely, his sharp teeth shining in the moonlight. "We showed that monster who was boss, huh?"_

_I smiled back at him. "Yeah! My mama's going to be so proud of me!"_

_Soul laughed and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me up and off of the ground. _

"_I'm going to make you a Death Scythe just like Mama did with Papa! You're going to be the best Death Scythe that Lord Death has ever had!"_

"_You promise?" Soul asked, his eyes alight._

"_Yeah!"_

_And we shook on it._

"Sorry, Soul," I murmured. "Looks like I'm not going to fulfill that promise."

Then Maka heard a scream. It came from the alleyway to her right. She bolted down it, and sure enough there was a pale form hunched over a screaming girl.

Maka sprinted to them, drawing Tristan from his sheath. She slashed at the vampire, leaving a shallow cut in his back, which was Maka's intention. She had to let the girl escape before I began to fight the vampire seriously. But as the vampire turned to me, the girl remained frozen on the ground.

"Run!" I yelled at her.

The girl scrambled to her feet and sprinted out of the alleyway. The vampire let out a yell of fury and slashed his talons at my chest. I would have normally used Soul's staff to deflect the blow but instead I flipped over backwards, barely missing the swipe by inches. When I landed, I brought up Tristan at the vampires arm, but he aerialed over the blade and dashed at me with his fangs bared. I brought the Tristan's hilt down on the back of the vampire's head, sending him down to the ground. I ran around him so that I had Tristan pointed at the vampire's back. We had the upper hand in this fight.

"Come on and kill him already, Maka?" said Tristan's muffled voice from the blade. I grit my teeth. This boy had no patience, did he?

Then the vampire began to chuckle. Then laugh. Then he laughed hysterically. I kept Tristan pointed at his back.

_What in the world is he doing? _I thought. Sweat began to form on my forehead.

"SO!" the vampire said loudly, whipping around, smiling madly at us. "YOU'VE COME TO COLLECT MY SOUL, HAVE YOU?"

"You're so loud, dude," said Tristan, his reflection rubbing his ears.

"I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW I'M NO NORMAL VAMPIRE!" he shouted.

"You're so freakin' annoying!" Tristan shouted back.

The vampire laughed madly again. My grip on Tristan's hilt tightened. The vampire lifted his arms, his palms facing the panting moon. "Now… _NIGHTMARE!"_

My eyes widened as what looked like black fog circulated around his hands. He roared as more fog gathered around his hands, then he disappeared.

His movements were too fast for me to follow. He dashed all around me until I was completely dizzy from trying to follow his blurred form.

"What the-?" started Tristan.

Then the vampire stopped suddenly in front of me and my head hurt. He let out a small laugh, a singular "ha," then charged right at me.

I felt a crushing force on my head, and everything went black.

**Author POV**

The students stopped and stared as a tall, black-haired boy carried a brown-haired, bloody girl through the hallways of the DWMA. Several people gasped as they recognized the girl's face. A girl with a high black ponytail and a boy with spiky blue hair rushed up to them.

"Maka!" cried Tsubaki, her hands flying to her horror-stricken face.

"What the hell happened?" asked Black Star.

The boy didn't respond but continued to push forward. When he went up the stairs and pushed into the school's hospital, the nurse dropped the glass that she had been holding. Tristan laid Maka down on one of the beds. Dr. Stein was in the hospital room as well, he stared as Maka's blood stained the white bed sheets.

"What happened?" the nurse gasped.

"Vampire… he hit her… called the attack… nightmare…" Tristan gasped.

In the halls of the DWMA, Soul Eater came out of a classroom into the hallway. He was confused by the commotion and it didn't take him long to find Black Star's blue hair. He walked over to him, and he saw that Tsubaki was next to him, her hands over her face.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Soul asked.

Tsubaki's eyes were filled with tears. "Soul… it's… it's her… it's Maka… she's covered in blood, Soul!"

Hot metal, nails scratching down his skin, ice, a million swords, gunshots, you name it. Every possible form of torture, combine it into one, that was what was surging through every particle of Soul's being as he saw the terror in Tsubaki's eyes. They weren't messing around with him. This was real. Maka had gotten hurt, and he hadn't been there to protect her.

His world slowed down. His shoes were suddenly made of lead. With every painstakingly slow step, he shoved multiple students out of his way, his whole focus centered on Maka. What had happened to her? Was she going to be okay? Soul was left to imagine the worst.

It seemed like an eternity before Soul finally reached the hospital room door, and time seemed to slow down even more as Soul reached out for the knob. When he did open the door, what he saw and heard made him knees buckle.

There Maka was, her head completely soaked in her own blood. The nurse tried to wash off her face with a cloth, but she had gone through three rags already and the blood didn't show any signs of slowing down. Soul saw black spots in his vision as he continued to take in the scene.

"The vampire fractured her skull," said the nurse, her voice reaching the point of hysterics as Maka's blood continued to flow. "He might have inflicted serious brain damage, and… oh, God, the blood isn't stopping…"

"What the hell is going on?" Soul shouted, holding the wall for support.

"Soul," Dr. Stein started, holding his hands up. "Calm down, it's not too serious, just a vampire…"

"Not too serious?" Soul shouted. "What the hell are you saying? Look at her! She's bleeding to death!"

"Soul-"

"Dr. Stein, I need help," said the nurse. She was holding five dark red, soaked-through rags up to them in desperation. The blood had ebbed a little, but not by much.

Dr. Stein whipped over to her, his hands working swiftly around Maka's head. Soul looked away from Maka, thinking that if he stared for one more minute that he would go insane. Then his eyes met Tristan's, and he lost it.

He lunged at him and slammed him against the wall, his fists clenching the fabric of Tristan's shirt. "You should have protected her!" he yelled in Tristan's face. "It's your duty as a weapon! You are so self-centered that you probably didn't even notice that she was in trouble, you little son of a bitch!" he moved his face closer to Tristan's so that their noses were almost touching and said in a voice that sounded like a growl, "You see that girl lying in that hospital bed because of you? I love her, you bastard. And if she ever gets this close to death again, I will make your life so miserable that you're going to wish that you were never born. And if she does die today," Soul gave a weak laugh. "I'll kill you. I don't care how many years of prison I have to sit through, I don't care if Lord Death puts me in a cell for all eternity, I don't care if I become a kishin egg: I will kill you. I'll tear the life out of your body bit, by bit, by bit."

He gave Tristan a hearty shove before he killed him on the spot. It took everything that Soul had to just walk away from Tristan, to let him go without doing any damage. He could imagine sinking his teeth into Tristan's shoulder…

Soul shook the thought from his head. "Get out of here before I murder you," Soul growled.

Tristan complied faster than you could say "weapon and miester."


	7. Chapter 7

**Discleaimer: Okay, I know that you're not dumb. You know that I don't own Soul Eater. **

Soul took the stairs to the Death Room two at a time. Now was the time to take action, he had to stand up for Maka, for he knew that she would never stand up for herself.

He strode under the guillotines, Lord Death had his back to the entrance. He was thoughtfully gazing into his mirror.

"Death!" Soul called out sharply. He didn't mean to sound so sharp, but when his anger was so high it was hard not to.

Lord Death turned around. "Well hello, Soul Eater. What's up?"

Soul hated how casual the grim reaper's high-pitched voice sounded, so oblivious to the living hell he was putting Soul through.

Soul decided to get right to the point. "Maka needs a new partner. Tristan is all wrong for her. He neglected the number one duty of a weapon; to protect their miester. And Maka almost died because of it-"

Soul's voice broke. He had meant to say more, but his throat had closed up.

A long silence hung in the Death Room as they stared at each other.

Lord Death sighed. "You have to understand that Tristan is still learning.

Soul's teeth clenched. "That's no excuse."

"Yes, I know." said Lord Death.

"So…?" asked Soul.

Lord Death sighed. "I'm afraid that there's no other available weapon at the DWMA;-"

"No," said Soul, "there's got to be someone else…"

Lord Death continued to speak over Soul. "-so Maka's just going to have to do with what she has."

Soul was breathing heavily. "We're not talking about some group homework assignment! We're dealing with Maka's _life _here!"

"I deal with lives every day Soul Eater! I'm a grim reaper! It's what I do!"

Soul was seething. He was at a loss for words. He was shocked as well. He had never seen nor heard of Lord Death snapping like this. It looked like this situation was getting to everyone.

"Is anything else bothering you?"

_No, _thought Soul. _I hate my new partner, I have to drink vomit every morning, I hate my life now, and you tore away the only thing that I love in this world. No, I'm just _FINE_!_

Soul glared at Lord Death and shook his head.

"Then I don't see why you're still here."

His fists balled at his sides, his jaw clenched, and his temper high, he exited the Death Room, leaving a very broken grim reaper behind him.

**Soul's POV**

I twirled a pair of silver keys around my finger. Tristan had wisely allowed me to borrow his and Maka's keys to their apartment. I wanted to pick up a few things for Maka a change of clothes and such. When I reached the room, I took a deep breath, turned the keys in the hole, and opened the door.

It was exactly like a sharp slap in the face. The warm welcomness of the room and the scent of Maka's body spray assaulted my senses and made my head spin. I had to lean against the hallway wall and take several deep breaths before I could even walk into the room.

As I was able to focus more, I realized how much the room had actually changed. Tristan's jacket was laid over the back of the couch. Maka's usual sheets of paper that used to cover the coffee table now contained all sorts of foreign objects; cups, bags of chips, candy wrappers, and dirty clothes. Maka must have spent all her time in her room or else she would go absolutely nuts.

I hated Tristan more and more with every step that I took deeper into the room. He had been taking advantage of Maka. I made a mental note to punch him in the eye the next time that I saw him.

Not even daring to look at my old room, I went straight over to Maka's. It was neat and tidy, even more so than was normal for Maka. I bet that if Maka had lost the battle of keeping the rest of the apartment tidy, she was as sure as hell going to keep her room perfect.

I went over to her bookshelf, pulling off the books that I had seen Maka read the most… well, that she had been reading while I start at her while I lived at the apartment…

Anyway, as I tried to lift up a particularly large book it fell spread-eagled on the floor. As I bent down to pick it up, something caught my eye. It was a cardboard box under Maka's bed. It was labeled "Soul" in Maka's handwriting.

I was torn for a moment. If I opened the box, I would be invading on Maka's privacy, but why would my name be written on the side of a cardboard box underneath her bed?

I pulled the box out from under the bed. I hesitated once more before I opened it.

My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. There were several pictures in the box, the top most one showed us on our first day of school: my arm was cockily wrapped around Maka's shoulders. I sighed. If only I had known then what I knew now… I also spotted the white fighting gloves that I had given her for Christmas. I had given them to her as a joke; she use to drop me a lot, just like how she dropped Tristan in class. But they had immediately become apart of her uniform, she never went on a mission without them.

Then it hit me. Maka must have completely discarded me from her life.

I cussed out Lord Death under my breath. I now questioned if I wanted to be his Death Scythe anymore, if he could cause this much damage in one fell swoop… And if I no longer wanted to become a Death Scythe, then I didn't need to be at the DWMA anymore. _No,_ said a voice inside of my head. _You have to stay here for Maka, to make sure that she stays safe._

Pushing Lord Death from my mind, I focused on getting the rest of Maka's things. I shoved the box back underneath the bed and picked up the fallen book and fixed it's bent pages. I then picked out her favorite outfit: her brown jacket and jeans. I closed my eyes when I picked out her undergarments and put the clothes in a bag.

I walked out as quickly as possible, not wanting to have unwelcome memories enter my mind. When I got back to the hospital Maka was still unconscious, looking troubled but still alive, and that was all that mattered at the moment.

I placed the box by her bed and sat in the wooden chair next to the bed. Maka was extremely pale, all the color was drained from her lips. _The next time that I see Tristan, _I thought,_ I probably wont be able to hold myself back._

"Soul?"

It was Dr. Stein. He was in his usual lab coat and was sitting in his rolling chair. He beckoned me to go over to him. I was reluctant to leave Maka's side, but the nurse had come over to attend to Maka and was shooing me away with her eyes, so I shrugged and walked over.

"I heard that you went to go talk to Lord Death."

I rolled my eyes, pretending to be non-caring. "Yeah, what about it?"

"You know that students need to make appointments in order to speak to Lord Death."

"Sorry if I thought that protecting Maka's life wouldn't really require an _appointment._" I spat. God, he was as bad as Lord Death was!

"Soul you are no longer Maka's weapon. Protecting her life is no longer your duty. You know this."

"Then he gave me a knowing look. God, he knew too? Was there some kind of underground newspaper that had **HEY, EVERYBODY! SOUL LOVES MAKA!** printed on the front page?

"So you know why I want to keep protecting her." I said. It wasn't a question.

Dr. Stein nodded.

"Does every single person in the whole DWMA know? How long have _you _known?"

"Ever since your first class with Kaylee."

Then it hit me. "You-You did that as an _experiment?"_

"I wanted to know if your feelings for Maka continued even after she wasn't your miester anymore.

"Well, what the hell did you expect? For me to just throw away Maka like she's garbage? For me to think 'Oh well, I guess she's not my miester anymore, so I don't like her anymore…'? For me to be like every other guy at the DWMA who goes through fifteen girls in one month? Did you think that I would fall for _Kaylee_?" I said disgustedly.

Dr. Stein shrugged. "It was a possibility."

I looked at Dr. Stein as if he was a slug. He had done disgusting things in the past, but this absolutely took the cake. "Sorry to disappoint, Dr. Stein, but in case you haven't noticed, I frickin' love Maka more than anything in the whole world."

"Please do not think ill of me, Soul. I was trying to help you."

"_How_?" I half asked, half shouted. The nurse shot a nasty look in my direction, but I didn't care.

"I was planning to talk to Lord Death about your-er- _situation_, but I had to be absolutely certain of your feelings towards Maka before I stood my case against him."

"Which is why you had that lesson," I realized.

Dr. Stein nodded and opened his mouth to say more, but just then Maka let out a terrified, blood-curling scream.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: You guessed it! I don't own Soul Eater!**

Maka twitched and writhed on the bed, her eyes squeezed shut, her mouth opening again and again to let out more and more screams.

"Soul!" she cried. "_Soul_!"

I rushed over to her, placing my hands on her arm as she continued to whimper and scream. Under different circumstances, I would have loved to know that I was at the center of Maka's dreams, but not like this, not when he was screaming, tears squeezing out from under her eyelids.

"Soul!" she cried again.

"Sh," I said desperately. "I'm here, Maka, I'm right here, just open your eyes…"

Maka continued with her antics. It pained me deeply to see her like this, so vulnerable, her own imagination holding her prisoner and making her suffer.

"What the hell is happening to her?" I asked the nurse furiously.

She just stared at the tortured Maka, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. I continued to look at her pleadingly until words finally found her.

"Tristan, he said something-something about the last blow, he called the attack-he called the attack nightmare. This might be the side-effects of the attack."

_I'm going to kill that son of a bitch. _I swore to myself as I continued to try to calm down Maka.

"Soul… Soul…" Maka whimpered, tears racing down her cheeks.

"I'm here, Maka, I'm right here. I'll always be here for you."

Maka didn't stop.

I knew what I had to do. I sat down in the chair next to her bed and closed my eyes. I knew that it was no longer my place to do this with Maka, but I didn't see any alternative. Under my breath, I muttered, "Soul resonance."

I felt our soul wavelengths adjust so that they matched each other. I kept my eyes closed, then I felt a tugging sensation behind my navel.

I felt my feet hit hard cobblestones. My knees wobbled from the impact, but I stood firm. Then I opened my eyes, and saw that I was in the streets above Death City, the moon bleeding above me. I knew that I wasn't _really _in the city streets, I was inside Maka's dream.

I heard someone let out a high-pitched scream from the next street over. My head snapped that way, and she screamed again. It was Maka. I took off running down the street, looking for a way to get to the neighboring street, but there were no alleyways. Maka continued to scream.

"Soul! Oh, Death… Someone help! _Soul_!"

At last I found a narrow alleyway and darted into it. When I came out on the other side, what I saw made me sick to my stomach.

Maka was standing in the middle of the street, her hands bloody and tangled in her hair. She was bent over and screaming, her knees were bowed in. I looked around for the source of her terror, and saw that there was a crumpled heap in front of her.

I ran to her and tried to pull her away. She didn't respond, pushing me away and continuing to cry and scream. Tears had left tracks on her dirt-covered face.

Maka wailed, bending down to the crumpled heap. I looked down and saw that the heap was me. My hair was stained red from blood that had gushed out of a long gash on my forehead. My arms and legs were bent at weird angles.

Maka stroked my hair. "Soul… Wake up! Wake up Soul! You can't do this to me! I need you, Soul! I need you!"

Then she reached hysterics. She tugged at her hair and scratched her face. Her eyes were wild, looking frantically around her for someone to help her. She clawed at her chest, long scratches showing up and beginning to bleed. I rushed to her side, grasping her shoulders. She had her eyes squeezed shut.

"Maka, look at me," I soothed, "I'm right here. I'm alive. Open your eyes…"

Slowly, steadily, she opened her eyes.

The tugging started at my navel again, and my consciousness traveling back to my physical body.

I had her shoulders in both of my hands. Her eyes fluttered open, her emerald, beautiful eyes gazing into mine.

"Soul?" she asked, her eyebrows raised hopefully, her eyes welling up with tears.

I tucked her into me, holding her close and burying my face into her hair. She wrapped her weak arms around my neck. I held her as close as I possible could, as if if I held her then she would never suffer again. Then, before I could stop myself or anyone could interfere, I kissed her.

At first Maka's body was rigid, as if she was very confused, but I didn't move away. Then she melted and relaxed, kissing me back. I loved the way that her lips felt against mine, how they seemed to be actually made for each other. I had always known that it would be absolutely amazing to kiss Maka, but I didn't know that it would feel _this_ good. How I wished that I could remain like this for the rest of my days, but I could feel Dr. Stein and the nurse's shocked eyes on my back. I very reluctantly broke away from her, but not before I kissed the corner of her mouth. Maka was smiling goofily up at me.

"Hey, Soul," she giggled.

All I could do was smile back. As I laid her back down onto her bed, I couldn't help having the overwhelming feeling that everything was going to be okay. Her eyes closed, exhausted from her nightmare, and she lapsed into a much needed, much deserved good night's sleep.

I startled as I felt something hot on my cheek. I felt it, my finger came away wet. I quickly wept the tears out of my eyes; crying was _majorly_ uncool.

I didn't realize that I was gazing at Maka until Dr. Stein cleared his throat. I chuckled nervously, putting my hand on the back of my head. Dr. Stein shook his head at me, but I noticed the slight tug at the corner of his mouth and the small thumbs up that he gave me from under his lab coat.

* * *

><p>I carried Maka home that night. I let her down softly on her bed. Her lips were slightly parted, her chest slowly rising and falling. She looked peaceful in her sleep, content. I didn't move from my position when I set her down. It felt amazing, to be this close to Maka, for one, but also to know that it was my place to be this close to her. Mine, and nobody else's.<p>

I bent down closer and softly kissed her forehead. I could feel her warm breath on my neck. It almost pained me to move away from her. It was like I had just received a gem, no, more than that, the most precious thing in the universe, and I couldn't look at it again until the morning. Which, in a way, was true.

But as I began to draw away, I felt arms wrap around my neck. I looked down into the most beautiful eyes that I had ever seen in my life. Her strong arms pulled me back down towards her, and her lips met mine again. My heart was racing inside my chest, going faster and faster the longer that our lips touched. I smiled when her arms slackened on my neck and I pulled away for a moment.

"I thought you were asleep," I chuckled.

"I had you fooled, didn't I?" said Maka. My beautiful Maka.

I bent down again and kissed her passionately. I had been through so much for her, and it was now so worth it. I would do it all over again if it meant that I could stay like this forever, our lips locked together, her hands pressing into my neck. My instinct completely took over. I was in bliss, complete and utter bliss, finally holding the girl that I had known since the very first day of school, that I had unconditionally loved for so long, hoping that one day my feelings may be returned.

Then I suddenly paused, realizing where my hands were. They were pressed on either side of Maka's torso, underneath her shirt. I froze, but Maka's lips continued to press into mine, bringing me further and further into her. I had to flex my muscles, clench my jaw, and quit breathing so that I could manage to move away.

Maka looked at me confusedly.

I sighed. "Trust me, I don't want to stop." _God, I don't want to stop._ "But I've waited for you for so long, and I don't want to blow it with you. I don't want to go too fast. I want to do things right. I-I love you too much."

Maka smiled and blushed. "There's no way you could blow it, Soul. _I _love _you _too much."

I felt a balloon inflate inside of my chest. Maka loved me.

_She loved me._


	9. Chapter 9

_**Loose Ends**_

**Disclaimer: Soul Eater doesn't belong to me.**

**Author's Note: To answer some confusion, no, Soul and Maka didn't do it in the last chapter. Sorry if this is disappointing to some people, but I'm with the whole 'stay pure before marriage' thing, even with my characters. The rest of this story is called 'loose ends' because… well, you'll find out! Thanks for reading!**

Maka smiled as her eyes roved over her reflection in the mirror. Everything that she saw now belonged to Soul. Sure, they didn't get that far last night, but that didn't mean that she wasn't Soul's to enjoy. Normally, she would have been sickened by that last sentence, but this was _Soul_, not some boy that decided to have a go at her. No, she knew that Soul truly loved her, flat chest and all.

Maka put her hands on either side of her waist. She could still feel the phantom of Soul's hands there. They had felt so _right _there. Maka had fallen asleep smiling last night, the faint whisper of a ghost of Soul's lips dancing across hers.

Maka changed into her school clothes, pulling her hair up into its normal pigtails. She paid extra attention to make sure that there were no bumps in it today, though. She wanted to look her best for Soul.

She walked out into the living room. Tristan had already left for school. He probably didn't want to have to face Maka for the first time since she had been attacked by the vampire. Maka didn't care. She was too focused on being excited to get to see Soul at school. She grabbed a health bar from her pantry and quickly wolfed it down as she got all her school things together. She slung her bag over her shoulder and strode out of herroom and almost ran into someone when she turned to go down the hallway.

"Sorry, I didn't see-"

The boy chuckled and she was cut off by soft lips pressing onto hers. She quickly pulled away, looking into Soul's grinning face.

"Good morning, beautiful."

He took a step back, pulling out something from his behind his back.

"Oh, Soul…" Maka gasped.

They were flowers, a dozen red roses, to be exact. Soul was literally bouncing on his heels as Maka accepted the flowers. He looked like a little kid on Christmas morning. Maka buried her face in them, breathing in their amazing scent.

"They're beautiful," she said, smiling. "But not as beautiful as your eyes."

Soul grinned, and Maka could see that his cheeks had pinkened a bit. Not wanting to make him feel like he was losing his cool, she hurried back into her room, finding a vase. Soul leaned his shoulder against the doorframe, gazing about the room.

"Sorry about the mess," Maka apologized as she cut the flowers' stems. "I haven't really had the time to clean up, what with Tristan and all…"

Soul's face grew hard, Maka could see that his jaw was clenched.

_Note to self. _Maka thought. _Don't mention Tristan's name in Soul's presence._

"Anyway!" she said, snapping Soul back from what she had no doubt were morbid thoughts. "Look at how pretty they look in this vase!"

She showed Soul the flowers in their vase, and he grinned proudly at them. She took them into my room, placing them on her homework desk where she would be able to admire them when she came home after school.

Maka hurried back out to Soul, her heart pounding as she interlaced her fingers in Soul's. The slight aroma of the roses was coming off of Soul, and it was as if a siren was inside of Maka's head, screaming, "He's holding your hand! Ma-aka! He's _holding your hand_!"

Maka felt that Soul's hand was shaking a bit.

"Soul, what's wrong?" she asked.

"What?" Soul asked, looking startled.

Maka held up their intertwined fingers for a visual aid.

Soul laughed his deep, Maka-melting laugh. "I'm… I'm just so excited that your finally mine. I guess that it's just showing physically."

Maka's knees wobbled, but she continued to walk with him. She didn't know that boys were capable of feeling the way that Soul felt for her, especially after her father…

"Speak of the devil," she muttered.

They had made it to the main hall, and there her father stood, knees buckled, mouth open, and a small squeaking noise squeezing out of his throat.

"His, Dad," Maka said through clenched teeth.

The wordless squeaking continued.

Soul quickly let go of my hand. "Mr. Albarn, sir, I- we were just…"

Spirit continued to gape at them. Taking a deep breath, Soul walked towards him with his chest puffed out slightly. _He's so cute when he does that,_ Maka thought to herself.

"Sir?"

My father snapped up to a position that mirrored Soul's and looked at him with utter dislike.

"Sir," began Soul, his voice firmer than Maka knew Soul actually felt. "I love your daughter. I have for a long time now. I promise to protect her and never hurt her."

Spirit continued to look down at Soul, Maka could see that the vein in his temple was sticking out. It was almost comical, to see Soul and Spirit stand there in their masculine stances, looking like two bucks about to ram their heads together. But this was serious. Who knew what Spirit, a Death Scythe, would do to Soul?

Maka thought that she saw her father's right arm shimmer slightly, like he was contemplating on turning his arm into his blade. Soul's arm, however, remained solid.

"How do I know that you wont cheat on her?" was the best question Spirit could come up with on such short notice.

Maka exploded. "Yeah, because you're an absolute _expert_ in that department, aren't you?"

Spirit's arm continued to shimmer threateningly. "Stay out of this, Maka."

"Yeah because its none of _my_ business, is it?" Maka said grumpily, crossing her arms. Then she exploded again. "What's it to you who I love anyway? If you don't like people cheating on each other, maybe you should look in the mirror before you go lecturing everyone else! Plus, you _know _Soul! It's not like he just decided today to love me! He's not going to go behind my back and date every girl he sees! He's not as foul as _you_!"

Spirit was struggling to keep calm. He didn't take his eyes off of Soul as he said, "Don't toss that word around like its nothing."

"What, 'love'? Maybe it's actually true!"

"This boy doesn't love you, Maka," said Spirit evenly, still not taking his eyes off of Soul. "He's just taking advantage over you-"

It was Soul's turn to explode. "How do you know how I feel about her?"

A crowd of students had formed around the scene, watching them as they argued, their eyes moving as if they were watching a tennis match as they shouted at each other.

Soul got an inch away from Spirit's face, standing up to his full height so that he was looking him in the eye. "I went through absolute hell these past weeks. And through it all my love for your daughter never faltered for a moment. And if you think that that undying love _is_ ever going to falter, your dead wrong." then Soul lowered his voice so that Maka and the onlookers couldn't hear him. "I'm prepared to take this all the way to the vows, sir. Now, with your blessing I would like to move on and continue making your daughter feel like the angel that she is, something that I can tell you've failed to do with her. I can give her the love that she never received from your end."

Spirit's eyes drifted from Soul's sincere eyes to Maka's confused face, a thin line of tears filling his brown eyes. He looked back to Soul's face and gave him a slight nod, walking away with his hands in his pockets, his head down to avoid eye contact.

"What did you say to him?" Maka asked as Soul walked back to her.

Soul wrapped one of his arms around Maka's waist and whispered his reply in her ear, "The truth."

He smiled mysteriously at her and kissed her briefly. He took her hand and walked her to the classroom, smiling as he thought about the bright future ahead of him.

**Kind of an odd chapter, but I also believe in the whole 'ask the father permission' thing :~) Review please!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater**

Soul wished that he could have taken a picture of the look on the rest of the gang's faces as he and Maka walked into the classroom. The expressions ranged from shock to happiness to the over bursting triumph that issued from Black Star's "YAHOO!"

They sat talking happily during the few minutes that they had before class. They congratulated Maka on her recovery and said over and over again, "Well it's about time!" They laughed and smiled together until something in particular caught Soul's eye. It was a group of stupidly laughing boys, Tristan was in the middle. The laughing seemed to be the result of something that Tristan had said. Soul tuned out Patty's "You guys just look so great together!" and listened intently to Tristan's conversation.

"Yeah the chick couldn't even hold onto me," said Tristan. "I would have sworn that she was a first timer, I mean _honestly_!"

Tristan then acted out what looked suspiciously like someone dropping a sword then collapsing of their own accord.

"I landed so far away from her that I swear that she threw me!"

The idiots around him guffawed like utter and total morons.

Soul's blood boiled. He mentally dared Tristan to keep talking, to keep entertaining his friends with a tale that was actually completely _his _fault.

"So wadddyou do?" one of the boys snickered.

"Brought her to the hospital, of course. I mean, the weakling was out just from one punch by a _vampire_!"

The boys laughed loudly at this, and Soul rose sharply from his seat. Maka looked up at him, then followed his gaze to Tristan.

"Oh, no." she muttered. "Soul, don't. It's not worth it…"

Soul didn't hear her over the sound of rushing rage in his ears. He went down the steps and strode over to Tristan, his fists clenched at his side.

"Oi, Tristan." Soul said, pretending to be casual. He jerked his head to the side, signaling Tristan to come over to him. Tristan's face fell as he shuffled over.

Soul gave him a quick grin, as if he was just going to have a small conversation with him, then punched him square in the face as hard as he possibly could.

Tristan was on the floor, rolling around in agony as blood gushed out of his nose. Soul stood over him, spitting on the floor next to him. Soul then crouched down next to Tristan's crumpled form.

"If I were you," Soul said through clenched teeth. "I would think before I spoke. _Ever._"

Tristan just moaned in response. Soul patted him on the shoulder in a degrading way, taking deep pleasure in the sight of all the blood on the floor. He stood back up and looked over at the boys that had been gathered around Tristan, who now looked like little fawns in headlights. Soul glared at them until they all scattered, then went back up the steps to his seat, touching wrists with Black Star as he sat down.

"You know that I have to fight with him, Soul," said Maka, looking at Soul with stern but affectionate eyes.

Soul shrugged. "I had to put him in his place, that's all."

"Soul and Maka?"

It was Dr. Stein, he was calling from his desk at the front of the classroom. He waved them down to him. He seemed to be ignoring Tristan's sounds of misery.

"Lord Death has requested to see you in the Death Room. You will be excused from class."

Soul and Maka gave each other equally confused looks. Wordlessly, they walked out of the classroom, up the stairs, under the guillotines, and to Lord Death.

"Hello! Howdy! Come on in!" came Lord Death's voice.

They walked up to him with hesitant steps.

"First I would just like to say, 'Congratulations!'" he said.

Soul and Maka blushed and looked at the ground.

"But that was not why I brought you up here. I heard of you two's extremely successful soul resonance the other day."

Maka's eyes grew sad and haunted as she remembered the cold and dark street, Soul's crumpled form, all that _blood_… Soul's eyes grew hard towards Lord Death, for one because he had caused Maka to have to remember that ghastly nightmare, and two because he had no idea where he was going with this.

"Soul actually managed to effectively resonate souls with you, Maka, when you weren't conscious that Soul was even there, something that I have only heard of very accomplished weapons and miesters doing. So effectively so, that Soul was able to get inside of your soul, Maka. This occurrence, I am happy to say, completely disproves my fear that you two wouldn't be able to resonate souls if you were in a relationship."

Maka looked up with wide eyes. "Are you saying…?"

"Yes. Soul and Maka, you are now weapon and miester once more."

Maka gasped sharply and Soul smiled widely. Maka flung herself into Soul's arms, burying her face in Soul's neck. Soul wrapped his arms around Maka and spun her around. What an incredible feeling. Maka was Soul's, and Soul was Maka's.

And nothing would ever change that.

Or so they thought.

**I think I'm gonna cry! It's all over! D,;**

**Thank you all so much for going on this journey with me! I'm making a sequel to this story, called My Deceiver. So look out for it! Find out what happens to Soul and Maka as Soul's black blood continues to spread. May take me a while to get started on it... I'm currently writing a Dramione story called The Boggart, so if you like Dramione check it out! But I'd kinda like to finish that one before I start My Deceiver :) Thank you all for being such great readers!**


	11. Chapter 11

Hey, guys! The first chapter of My Deceiver is up! Go! Read! Enjoy! NOW!


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